politics

Nuclear War Is On The Horizon

The amount of bellicose rhetoric from politicians and key military commanders has been increasing. The main focus of that rhetoric has been directed toward Russia, and is also in the direction of China, North Korea, and Iran when it suits U.S. political interests. The problem is that all of it is not just talk: action has been taken, especially regarding Russia and the Syrian theatre of operations.

Within the past several weeks, the U.S. has bombed Syrian troops, killing 62 outside of Deor ez-Zor in airstrikes and then admitting to doing so “mistakenly.” The U.S. then made itself responsible for an attack on the Russian Embassy in Damascus, Syria: anti-Assad Islamic militants did the job, and these have support with funding and materials of the U.S.

What is new is the level that the rhetoric has reached…rhetoric that is no longer rhetorical but actually constitutes direct threats against Russia.

On September 29, 2016 the Washington Post reported these words from U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter: “Across the Atlantic, we’re refreshing NATO’s nuclear playbook – to better integrate conventional and nuclear deterrence, to ensure we plan and train like we’d fight, and to deter Russia from thinking it can benefit from a nuclear use in a conflict with NATO.”

While the U.S. emplaces missile batteries in Germany, Romania, and Moldova, Russia has not responded by placing missiles in either Cuba or Venezuela, two countries she holds strong ties with both militarily and economically. Carter champions deterrence while simultaneously works to increase U.S. nuclear and conventional buildups in Eastern Europe. But it doesn’t stop there with his words. This was reported by AFP in an article entitled US Using Syrian Crisis to ‘Wage a Surrogate War’ Against Russia, on October 4, 2016:

“US State Department spokesman John Kirby has made strong statements regarding Russia’s involvement in Syria, claiming that if Russia will not cooperate with the US, Moscow will keep sending troops home in body bags.”

“I want to be clear to those who wish to do us harm…. the United States military – despite all of our challenges, despite our [operational] tempo, despite everything we have been doing – we will stop you and we will beat you harder than you have ever been beaten before. Make no mistake about that.” General Mark Milley, U.S. Army Chief of Staff

Milley was directing these words toward Russia. He went on to describe the next coming war, as such: “[The next war will] be highly lethal, unlike anything our Army has experienced at least since World War II,” and would involve fighting in “highly populated urban areas.”

The Russians are conducting nuclear evacuation drills involving over 40 million people. Everyone from Putin and his general staff to local Moscow reporters believe that a nuclear war started by the United States is just on the horizon. Just this week, Putin shelved an agreement between Russia and the U.S. to reduce the amount of Plutonium that can be converted into nuclear warheads.

Instead of statesmen and diplomats, we now have self-interested, politically-motivated belligerents backing Russia and other nations into corners and pushing them toward war.